Page 38 of Centaur Bolt

Suddenly, the need for him filling me was more than I could bear. It might only be a dream, but I wanted to finish it. “Fuck me, Marcus,” I whispered.

He sucked in his breath before his hands shot around to cup my butt. He lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around him, tilting to put his length at my entrance. And when he hesitated, his girth pushing ever so slightly, I shoved myself down on him.

He was so damn big. I wiggled and adjusted the angle, so ready for him that he slipped, ever so slowly, deeper and deeper.

Thunder crashed, and lightning lit the very air around us, flickering through his eyes as the dark scales chased down his neck and along his shoulders. Not like Dragon scales—each of these had a small spike in the center that glowed. They were hot against my fingers, but I clung. And then twisted my hips. Braced against his waist to start the dance—the push and pull that left us both gasping for air, the silken tightening of my channel and his swelling to meet it as he thrust into me. So deliciously big and tight—my body welcomed every inch of him, and his hands helped me set the rhythm, lifting me and holding me without any effort at all.

It came on us like a tidal wave—a moment of breathless pause, followed by a surge of ecstasy so intense it shook the earth beneath us and the sky above. With a deafening crackle, lightning struck the ground, bouncing up again to encase us in a pulsing ball of dancing light. It was as though it coursed straight through us—wave after wave as he erupted, as we both cried with the power of it.

“Riley—” The word was part growl, part whisper, but filled with a depth of emotion that flooded my heart. He held me tight as the pulses subsided.

Then he froze. I looked up to see him staring at his arms—and at the spiked scales the color of the night sky.

Before I could stop him, he lifted me off and set me down.

“Marcus—” I reached for him, but he backed away, staring at hands that had sprouted great, wicked claws that glowed yellow and white—like captured lightning.

“What am I?” The words were filled with horror, barely decipherable, a gravelly growl.

“I don’t care!” I was suddenly desperate to get my hands back on him, but he was moving too fast. And as he backpedaled, he was fading.

“Marcus, wait!” I reached forward, but my hands passed through him.

And then he was gone.

I blinked up at the moonlight reflecting off the ceiling. Kiko snored on from the neighboring bed, oblivious to my thundering heart.

Dreams of a Dragon and Marcus. But they had both seemed so real.

What if we were connecting in these dreams? Maybe not the Dragon. But Marcus? Could I use them to find a way to help him? What if he could show me where he was?

What was between us was powerful. Surely, that counted for something in this crazy new world where I now found myself.

As I lay there, I acknowledged that nothing worthwhile in my life had ever come without a fight. And if there was something worth fighting for, it was Marcus.

* * *

Hours of tossing and turning later, I found myself once more staring at the ceiling as the dream with Marcus cruised through my restless thoughts.

It had been—well, dreamy, but my heart ached as though it had been torn. Had he really been there? Or was it just my wishful thinking?

My blasted body didn’t care. It wanted more.

When the sky outside the window paled toward dawn, I decided to hit the showers before they got busy. I grabbed a change of clothes and tiptoed out of the room—although Kiko didn’t even stop snoring, so I likely needn’t have bothered.

The towels stood in orderly rows on a shelf, and I grabbed one, along with a washcloth. Despite the early hour, one of the shower stalls was already occupied—I supposed shifters were active at different hours. I chose another and, moments later, sighed as the hot water cascaded down my body.

I exited the stall just as the main door closed behind the other early riser. When I emerged into the hall, I spotted Lora, her long tail swaying in time to her hips. She was too far ahead of me to speak to, even if I’d been inclined to do so. Which I wasn’t.

When she vanished into a room, it took me a moment to realize it wasn’t the one she supposedly shared with Vali. Instead, she’d gone through the door across the hall.

I raised a brow as I passed it and heard a giggle from within. Apparently, Kiko wasn’t alone in sampling from the teammates. I wondered whose room it was.

I was just about to open my door when something occurred to me. I spun to look at the sign on the door—it was a pictograph of a Centaur.

There was only one other team member that could be in that room, unless we’d acquired another I knew nothing about. The Hitzu had moved pretty fast if that were the case. If it wasn’t… Vali’s comment on incest flickered through my mind.

Unsettled, I slipped into my own dorm, just as the wake-up bell rang through the facility.

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